Reefs

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News about Reefs, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Mar. 8, 2015

Coral reefs near Port of Miami, Fla, including endangered staghorn coral, are being damaged by Army Corps of Engineers-led dredging project intended to make way for supersized cargo ships; damage has led to outcry and lawsuit by environmentalists. MORE

Nov. 25, 2014

Scientists at the Mote Tropical Research Laboratory are developing fast-growing coral using technique called microfragmenting in effort to mass produce coral growths that can revive dead or dying reefs; effort, which is currently underway in Florida Keys, is partly supported by $35,000 Field Museum of Natural History grant. MORE

Sep. 26, 2014

Florida officials are banning import of lionfish, which over three decades have become the most numerous marine nonnative invasive species in world; are encouraging spearfishing competitions to cull their numbers; lionfish evade more traditional means of capture and are wreaking havoc on delicate coral reefs and fish stocks. MORE

Jun. 6, 2014

Pres Benigno S Aquino III of the Philippines says China is moving ships around disputed reefs in South China Sea that could be used to reclaim land and help build structures; Philippines has filed a diplomatic note protesting China's activities on the Johnson South Reef, which China claims is its territory. MORE

Jun. 6, 2014

Dredging is set to begin in the Port of Miami, and researchers are scrambling to salvage a much larger than expected trove of delicate corals that were not in original marine life rescue plan for undersea area. MORE

Jun. 3, 2014

Researchers report that diversity of life off Malay Archipelago, between Southeast Asia and Australia, is due to stability of coral reefs there over past three million years. MORE

Oct. 8, 2013

Jasper M de Goeiji study in journal Science concludes that sponges near coral reefs absorb organic matter cast off by coral and algae and recycle it into food for abundant animal life nearby. MORE

Apr. 28, 2013

Some environmentalists are concerned that plans by a Spanish development company for a resort near the Sea of Cortez could threaten a delicate slice of Mexico's Baja California, home to more than 200 fish species and a singular coral reef. MORE

Aug. 14, 2012

Memo From Cancun; nearly 500 statues in an underwater museum in Cancun, Mexico, serve as part of a conservation effort of the Mesoamerican Reef, the second-largest barrier reef system in the world; Jason deCaires Taylor labors over his five-ton sculptures for weeks, creating concrete figures of men, women and children, many of them modeled after people in the fishing village near here where he lives and works. MORE

Aug. 7, 2012

Dr Chris Perry study in journal Geology finds that the muddy, sediment-filled Middle Reef, part of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, has grown more rapidly than other segments; findings contradict belief that sediment-rich marine environments are detrimental to coral growth. MORE

Jul. 24, 2012

Dr Mary Hagedorn, reproductive physiologist with the Smithsonian Institution, is building what is essentially a sperm bank for the world's corals; she has collected and frozen about one trillion coral sperm, enough to fertilize up to a billion coral eggs; Hagedorn and her colleagues hope to use the samples to restore and rebuild damaged reefs, which are facing oblivion in the face of global warming. MORE

Jul. 14, 2012

Op-Ed article by ecologist Roger Bradbury argues that there is unequivocal scientific evidence that the global coral reef ecosystem is on the verge of collapse; contends that perpetuating the false belief that the reefs can be saved has caused gross misallocation of funds needed to cope with the fallout from their collapse. MORE

Jun. 18, 2012

Dormant oil platform known as High Island 389-A is set to be demolished by the Interior Department, move that would destroy the lush and complex ecosystem that has developed around the structure; unusual coalition of marine preservationists are pushing to have High Island and many similar platforms designated as protected reefs. MORE

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